Abstract
Microbial fuel cell (MFC) represents a new method for producing electricity from the oxidation of organic matter. In addition, MFC offers an effective wastewater treatment. The feasibility of using POME wastewater as a substrate was investigated through a two-chambered MFC operated in batch mode for 12 days. The performance of MFC was evaluated under three different anode pH microenvironments of acidic (pH 4), neutral (pH 7) and alkaline (pH 8). Results of experiments indicated that the MFC reactor was able to generate electricity and treat POME wastewater that acted as substrate for MFC. The performance of MFC was found to be dependent on the anode pH microenvironments. Higher power density was observed at neutral condition compared to acidic and alkaline conditions. Furthermore, significant reductions in chemical oxygen demand (COD) in anode chambers were found due to the changes of pH in anode microenvironment. This indicated that effective wastewater treatment of POME in MFC batch experiments. In conclusion, MFC provides an alternative, sustainability and effective method to generate electricity and effectively treat wastewater.
Highlights
Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a biochemical reactor which has the ability to generate electricity and treat wastewater simultaneously
The performance of two-chambered MFC in electricity generation was influenced by the variation of anode pH microenvironments
This study revealed that the performance of MFC was found to be dependent on the anode pH microenvironments
Summary
Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a biochemical reactor which has the ability to generate electricity and treat wastewater simultaneously. MFC generates electricity from the redox reaction with the aid of a catalytic reaction of microorganisms [1]. The catalytic reaction is initiated by the metabolic activity from the oxidation of organic matter by microorganisms in the anode chamber [2] This reaction generates electrons (e-) and proton (H+) ions. Electrons travel to the cathode chamber through an external circuit under an external resistance while proton ions diffuse to the cathode chamber through cation exchange membrane (CEM). The process in the MFC is advantageous as it does not require the thermodynamic conversion step [3,4]. The biological process offers an economical method for both electricity generation and wastewater treatment
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